Queen of the Pirates

A Long-Awaited Conversation

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I barely smile as I watch the group of Kuja Pirate girls stretch various parts of Luffy's body as he lies on the cot on the deck of the Perfume Yuda.

Ever since we made it back to the Perfume Yuda from Marineford, it has been strictly enforced that Luffy return to his bed rest while we make our journey back. Our plan we made to eat and then sleep didn't go as smoothly as we probably thought it would with the girls swarming him the minute we got back on board, but when night arrived, we could finally get away and climb into our bed to quickly fall asleep.

Now it's the next day, and the news of our escapade at Marineford has hit all the papers. Every journalist that wrote an article has a different idea to the meaning behind our visit, but each one includes basically the same two pictures. The main picture shows Luffy during his moment of silence while a smaller picture shows me on the ground in the midst of bawling. With the news out there for the entire world to see, we can only hope that it reaches wherever the rest of our crew is, and that they'll understand the message we are trying to send to them.

"Sorry for making you guys take this long trip," Luffy says.

"Don't worry about it," a young woman with straight black hair pulled back into a ponytail says. "We're used to long voyages!"

"What exactly are you all doing?"

"The Snake Princess fainted after getting all worked up earlier. We're watching you to make sure you get some rest. It's the Snake Princess's orders!"

"Not every man stretches like Luffy does, ladies," I chuckle as they instantly stop pulling at his skin.

"Really?" they all ask.

"Go check out the other two men on board, but I can promise you that they don't stretch like Luffy does."

They all sprint over to Jinbei and Rayleigh to test my assertion.

Luffy lets out a sight, "I hope they'll understand my message."

"They should be fine," Rayleigh smiles as the women pull at his face. "Those actions are unusual for you. Besides how you acted with Akari. That's the key. But then, there's one man who didn't seem very sharp. Well, I'm sure he'll be fine."

I can't help the giggle that floats past my lips at Jinbei's frustration at having his face pulled.

"I know your message will reach them. I have a good feeling about it."

"The crew knows you fairly well at this point, captain. I don't think we have anything to worry about."

"Akari, we have questions for you!" the girl that spoke up early for the group shouts as the group rushes up to me. "Why don't all men stretch like Luffy?"

I chuckle, "Well, Luffy ate the Gum-Gum Fruit, which turned him into a rubber man. If you don't know, that's a Devil Fruit, and the powers of a Devil Fruit can only be connected to one person at a time."

Multiple girls open their mouths, no doubt to ask a whole bunch more questions that I would gladly answer if there wasn't a conversation more pressing to be had, so I raise my hand to stop them from getting their questions out.

"I'm so sorry, ladies. I know you have a lot of questions to ask me that you didn't want to ask on the journey out when so much was already on my mind, and I promise that once I'm settled in Amazon Lily and have permission, I will answer all the questions you can think to ask me. Right now though, I would really like to talk with my boyfriend about multiple things that we haven't had the time or mindset to discuss until now. I promise that he'll rest, so if you could give us some time alone, that would be much appreciated."